Yesterday we had Icelandic Christmas Dinner which the staff of SIM came to the residence and cooked for us. It was so nice, especially since the group of residents have become a pseudo-family. Doing a few residencies now, I really value this because people really make all the difference in these situations. This group is particularly special.

Needless to say, it was all delicious. A number of us talked about our traditional Christmas meals from our own countries. I shared that my family is cooking ham this year and some of the residents asked if we would have turkey too. It seems the one protein at the Christmas table was surprising to them! Swedish Christmas is chock full of fish, mostly salmon and herring (pickled); Polish Christmas has a cabbage soup; Korean Christmas isn't too much of a big deal because New Year's is what they celebrate; Japanese Christmas is lots of little foods (it was hard to hear her at the table because of all the chatter) but New Years is also the bigger deal there; Scottish Christmas seemed to be pretty straight forward like ours, having turkey.

I leave prior to Christmas but the rest of the residents will remain. They will be celebrating Swedish and Polish Christmas on Christmas Eve- traditionally the bigger event of the season for them. The Swedish and Polish residents will be cooking dinner. There have been beets pickling on the counter all week. The next day the Americans are cooking. I hear there will be homemade pecan pie (YUM). They decided to not work on the holiday and borrow the projector from the SIM office and project Christmas movies that day. It all sounds lovely.

I should also note, we do have a Christmas tree here. And advent candles so the residence has been quite festive throughout the month.

On the homefront, I hear that Kiki has declared a reign of terror on Christmas. From how it is described, I expect to see a Charlie Brown tree from once a beautiful spruce. Angels better watch their back!

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What began as a daily blog reflecting on my SIM Artist Residency in December 2016, became a weekly reflection of my studio practice and work- both personally and artistically. I make every effort to post new posts by Sunday evening.